Apr 23 05:34 AM US/Eastern
(AP) - TOKYO, April 23 (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama reiterated Friday that he intends to resolve by the end of May a dispute over where to relocate the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa, saying he will stake his job as prime minister on keeping the promise he has repeatedly made.
"It's a matter of course that I am working on all policies with a determination to stake my job" as prime minister on implementing them, Hatoyama said at a plenary session of the House of Councillors. "The question of Futemma's relocation site is naturally included" in those policies, he said.
During parliamentary debate earlier this week, Hatoyama said he would stake his job on "realizing all policies," but Friday's remarks went further by specifically mentioning the base row.
The comment appeared to increase the likelihood that the question of his resignation would surface if he fails to resolve the matter by his self-imposed deadline.
But asked if Hatoyama meant that he would make a decision about whether to step down as prime minister in the event that he fails to resolve the matter by May 31, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said at a news conference, "That's not what he meant."
"Because the prime minister has regularly made remarks with such an expression, I think it signifies his strong determination," he added.
On the idea of relocating the base to Tokunoshima, a Kagoshima Prefecture island about 200 kilometers northeast of the main island of Okinawa, Hatoyama refrained from acknowledging it was being considered by the government, saying at the session that ideas on the issue have yet to be finalized within the government.
As to concern over the possible worsening of ties with the United States due to the dispute, the prime minister said, "The description of current relations as at their worst point doesn't hold true."
"Consultations are under way to deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance in a manner suitable for the 21st century," he added.
Under the current plan agreed by the two countries in 2006, the Futemma base will be relocated from the crowded city of Ginowan to a coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa, by 2014.
But with local calls growing for the base to be relocated outside of the southernmost prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces in the country, the government is seeking to find an alternative site for the base.
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said Friday he will attend a mass rally to be held in the prefecture on Sunday that will call for relocating the Futemma facility outside the region, to which organizers are hoping to draw as many as 100,000 people.
The United States, however, has said it prefers the existing relocation plan or a modification of it.
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